长篇 // Changpian // Longform
Welcome to the 20th edition of Changpian, a selection of feature and opinion writing in Chinese. With other resources devoted to the many interesting sound bites from Chinese social media, this newsletter focuses instead on some of the wealth of longer writing that is produced in Chinese, both in traditional news media and on platforms like WeChat. Changpian includes any nonfiction writing, from stories and investigations to interviews and blog posts, that I found worth my time – and that you might like as well. It aims to be relevant to an understanding of Chinese society today, covering topics in and outside the news cycle. The selection is put together by me, Tabitha Speelman, a Dutch journalist and researcher currently based in Leiden, The Netherlands. Feedback is very welcome (tabitha.speelman@gmail.com or @tabithaspeelman). Back issues can be found here.
Lots of writing to choose from this month. Thanks for reading. Changpian will skip an issue and be back in October.
干货// Ganhuo // Dry Goods
In this section, I highlight any (loose) themes that stood out in my recent reading.
The on-going small explosion of Chinese writing on #MeToo and gender issues follows a new, large wave of sexual harassment accusations within higher education, civil society and the media. Many note the debate is surprisingly diverse and worthwhile. A couple of articles that stood out to me (and that I saw working links to):
An Initium piece in which several women involved in exposing harassment at 中山大学in Guangzhou explain their careful activism (see here for a WeChat version) predates this past week’s media storm. The women respond to gender studies scholar Huang Yingying, who wrote a more cautious piece on the movement for a policy journal calling for a ‘localized’ definition of sexual harassment.
Well-known liberal writer Liu Yu’s social media post on her ambivalent attitude towards #MeToo found (what seemed to be mostly older) fans but also triggered critical responses. On activist Ye Haiyan’s public account, a piece taking issue with Liu’s comparison of online accusations of harassment with 大字报. Blogger 北大飞 adds thatLiu’s emphasis on restraint and self-protection misses the point. He thinks this might have to do with China’s liberals’ focus on state power (dissident writer and “老男人” Mo Zhixu seems to agree). “中国的metoo很宝贵…请不要轻易毁掉它” ends another popular response to Liu.
Sociology PhD student Zoe Zhao unpacks the common but unnecessary expectation that social movements be beyond criticism in their values and practices. 刘宽Kiva writes a much-shared post explaining her perspective as a female self-declared “既得利益者”. See for more contributions this thread on new social media platform Matters, which has (re-)posted much of what is going around.
For background to today’s debate and a possible future agenda, I recommend this timelytwo–part 澎湃 interview with gender historian Wang Zheng, who notes that during China’s modernization much more changed for women than for men: “中国的现代化归根结底什么？是女人的现代化。女人从男主外女主内的这样一个农业社会的性别隔离的空间中走了出来， 中国女人的现代化就是中国的现代化（无法想像若今日女人还在性别隔离的社会中生存，中国会是啥样）。但是男人没变，过去是读书、做官、经商，现在还是读书、做官、经商 … 而女人则发生了天翻地覆的变化，从社会空间、活动范围到知识结构、主体身份全都变了.. 中国社会要真正实现现代化，就必须把男人也现代化，产生新的男性主体，然后我们的社会才能称得上是真正的现代化的社会.”
酷
While one online article on three “vaccination kings” played a significant role in spreading the news of a new government investigation into substandard vaccinations, covering this news in Chinese media has reportedly been difficult and censorship widespread. One response to the lack of reliable information came in the form of several pessimistic (and cynical) takes on the news industry that spread beyond media circles. Former investigative reporter Wang Keqin wrote on his Weibo account that any praise for his previous work on vaccination scandals “说明太多的真相与悲剧难以报道出来”. On the same day, writer and former reporter Li Haipeng wrote a post looking back at a time when journalists still thought of their work as important and “cool”. Media researcher and – also – former journalist Fang Kecheng focused on what is still possible for journalists today, for instance in the realm of data journalism and cross-sector cooperation between media, art, academia and civil society.
其他好故事 // Gushi // More stories
Some other interesting stories.
1. 挣脱“枷锁”：出走大凉山的彝族女孩 – 后窗工作室 – Photographer 焦冬子 made this moving portrait of several young Yi migrant women over three years. Best story I’ve seen on the specific challenges these women face both in the city and at home.
衣色十六岁时，大哥开车出事故撞了两个人，一死一伤，要赔40多万，如果拿不出这么多钱哥哥就得去坐牢。在深圳打工的衣色被家人一个接一个的电话催促回家，必须马上与表哥完婚。他们需要拿衣色的15万彩礼来免除大哥的牢狱之灾。
2. 第313期：我是一名“生死中介” – 新闻酸菜馆 – Good 1-hour conversation on China’s donor registration system, which seems to still be very much in development. (Also findable on most podcast platforms.)
我们这期嘉宾叫坤子，他在河南郑州的一家医院从事器官捐献协调员的工作，游走在即将失去生命和等待延续生命的人们之间，有媒体把他的工作写成是“生死中介”。
3. 中国版飞越疯人院:密谋十七年的逃亡 – 真实故事计划 – Reading about Dong Yaoqiong, who reportedly was sent to a psychiatric hospital after splashing ink on an image of president Xi, I remembered this story from earlier this year on a Shanghainese man who spent 17 years trying to get dismissed from a psychiatric ward. See also this piece in which young disability rights scholar Huang Yi tells about writing it, and this – separate – piece in which a petitioner reflects on her time in prison.
一有机会他就问医生：“我到底有什么病？”医生不搭理他。不过药倒是很快跟上了，徐为第一次住院的时候吃的是氯丙嗪，这一次就继续吃氯丙嗪。在徐为一而再、再而三的追问下，医生勉强对徐为进行了一次会诊。但就随便问了点问题，也没出什么结果。会诊之后，徐为被分到了普通病房，和几个病友合住。
4. 一纸文件背后的中国乡村学校演变 — 澎湃新闻 – Informative article on recent rural education policies trying to undo some of the effects of twenty years of widespread rural school merging. Haven’t seen much reporting on this yet.
有了可以做多方面解读的国家政策，地方出于各种具体考虑而对乡村中小学的撤并遂一发而不可收拾。于是，乡村中小学校撤并的后果远远超出了当初政策出台者的初衷，也超出了中央政府所能控制的范围。或许乡村中小学萎缩并不是乡村中小学撤并之初主政者所希冀的后果，但是事实确实如此…简言之，国家重视和加强乡村小规模学校和乡镇寄宿制学校的建设，其最重大意义在于，这是国家努力纠正二十年来乡村学校撤并所造成的种种问题的重要制度安排。
5. 三聚氰胺10年，奶业洗牌和艰难的信心重建 – 界面 – Story looking back on ten years of reforms in the dairy sector following the melamine scandal in 2008. See also this slightly less balanced but more complete article focusing on the lasting impact on families with sick children, an angle 界面 didn’t seem to be able to take. Both stories agree the scandal is far from forgotten (as confirmed by how often it is referenced in the current vaccination crisis).
“以母爱为最高标准”。在位于石家庄市和平西路与友谊大街交汇处的原三鹿集团总部大院内，这八个原本被漆成红色的大字连接着生产车间与销售楼，如今已经斑驳。10年前，这几个大字象征着三鹿奶粉的品质，而三聚氰胺事件的发生让这种品质被践踏在地，连带着三鹿集团顷刻倒塌，10年后的今天，偌大的三鹿集团总部已经人去楼空，曾经的研发中心、销售楼、生产车间被酒店、儿童活动中心、行政单位、物流企业等不相干的场所替代，唯有信号塔上被抠去的“三鹿乳品”和架在墙外的生产管道仍然告诉人们，这曾经是全国最大的奶粉企业制造基地。
- “单身女性应该拥有生育权”的呼声越来越高，如今我们面对怎样的现实？— 好奇心日报 – Interesting article on activism for hukou rights reform for the children of single moms, prospects for which might be more promising now that the government is starting to encourage more births. (But see also this more theoretical piece on traditional expectations of marriage are making a comeback.)
这位未婚妈妈意外怀孕，后来与男友分手了，没有结婚，却因为条件不符无法在当地派出所为孩子上户. 她找上李珺打官司，案件进行地相当快速，才一个多月就结案，结果也是好的，孩子可以上户。
7. 自由主义的重生与政治德性 – Matters – Essay by writer 陈纯on trends in liberalism and public engagement in China.
2015年，“女权五姐妹”被抓，引发巨大的声援浪潮。我也开始了解到“青年女权行动派”所做的事，比如郑楚然发动“占领男厕”，赵思乐就收容教育制度状告广东省公安厅，秋白就恐同教材起诉教育部等。从这些事件中，我隐隐然感到这些新一代的女性行动者对公正问题有着比自由派更敏感的触角，更愿意为此付出行动，也更会捕捉公众的眼球。在另一边，我结识的基督徒也越来越多，其中对我比较有影响的是多伦多大学的张军老师，他和我在同一个政治哲学群里，并且私下也乐意和我分享一些政治哲学的思考。有一次他在群里说，基督徒为了信仰，连舍身喂虎都不怕，试问一下，自由派有这样的决心和牺牲精神吗？这个反问对我的震撼非常大。
8. 异乡人——Peter Goff：在北京开书店，我大概是个B级外国人 – 端传媒 – Profile of Irish owner of the Bookworm bookstore Peter Goff (paywall).
此后的11年中，捐赠成为了老书虫的一个极为重要的书籍来源。书店的市场经理，来自中国江西省的女孩Zoe和我们介绍说：“这家店创立的时候，英文书大概不到1000本，现在这里的2.5万本书里有1万多本都是外文书。这里面当然有我们通过常规渠道进的，也有从香港买的，不过还有很大一部分是来自于那些离开北京的外国人的捐赠。”
9. 工地上的“世界杯” — 界面 — If you are missing all the World Cup coverage, check out this article on how the tournament was experienced on one construction site in Fuzhou.
世界杯总决赛这一天，工人李作勇和妻子发生了分歧。他猜测法国队的赢面更大，但妻子楚芳是克罗地亚队的球迷。他们彼此未能说服，索性没有购买这场比赛的足彩。工友们的想法也大致相同。开赛前，李作勇走进福州地铁四号线一期第二标段池边站项目部会议室时，他们也在讨论两队的实力。大家都知道法国队实力占优，但在感性认识上，还是希望克罗地亚队赢球。“逆袭更刺激，不是吗？”李作勇说。
10. 特区 | 歌单 — LMP声研单位 — An interesting soundtrack to Beijing-based exhibition 长征计划：违章建筑三——特区”.
旧文// Jiuwen // Classic：
A piece of nonfiction writing that Chinese academics, writers, journalists — or just me – think worth a read months, years or decades after its initial publication.
刘晓波：《中国政治与中国当代知识份子》后记 – Until this month, I hadn’t read much by Liu Xiaobo apart from Charter 08. With the first anniversary of his passing, I looked at some parts of his large body of writing. Apart from translated essays and (mostly 繁体) Chinese-language editions of his books, “刘晓波-刘霞网站” is a good resource, especially for shorter articles by the couple, sorted by genre and other categories.
Although Liu’s political commentary often makes use of West-China binary oppositions, I like how often he also writes about wanting to transcend these frames. The fragment below is from a self-reflective postscript to a 1989 book about Chinese intellectuals. The piece ends with a typically sharp typology of foreign China watchers. See also his 2006 analysis of “hostage diplomacy”, which now calls to mind recent diplomatic effortssurrounding Liu Xia’s move to Germany (“大陆的监狱中永远不缺与美国作交易的政治人质”).
Two other Chinese-language stories on Liu I appreciated this month: 1. A 端传媒article on participants in a seaside memorial ceremony last year and the harassment they still experience (no paywall). 2. An essay on Liu by Xu Zhiyuan from 2013. Liu’s PhD thesis on aesthetic experience, which Xu mentions, can also be downloaded from the 刘晓波-刘霞网站. Like all his writing it is very clear, despite drawing on a mind-boggling number of Chinese and Western thinkers. While mostly discussing very big issues, Liu’s voice is a personal one. Much like Xu, who wants to know Liu’s take on political events after his imprisonment, I kept wondering what he would write today.
作为一种相互比较的参照系，西方文化能够最鲜明地实现出中国文化的总体特征和种种弱点；作为一种批判性的武器，西方文化可以有效地批判中国文化的老朽；作为一种建设性的智慧，西方文化能够为中国输入新鲜血液和改造中国的现实。然而，站在人类命运和焦虑世界的未来的高度上看，站在个体生命的自我完成的层次上看，这本书或许一文不值…正因为我的民族主义立场和企图借助于西方文化来改造中国，所以我对中国的批判是以对西方文化的绝对理想化为前提的.